I am a veteran editor for friends and family as well as most of my employment positions. I make books out of my friends' writing as well as help them to smooth out what they say, how they say it and hopefully get the best expressions. I have been doing this for 20+ years. I often find myself reading a book and correcting problems I see even after the works have been professional published from big name publishers.

By Chris Phillips

Published on 08/5/2012

To children and childhood friends, oaths are the basis for living. When some boys growing up together make a pact like this, it is forever. Life changes that and so do commitments. Frankie is a detective in Brooklyn and trying to solve a string of murders and they keep happening.

Break a Promise to a Friend or to a Job

Murder Takes Time by Giacomo
Giammatteo ISBN 978-0-9850302-0-9

Review by Chris
Phillips

Giammatteo
brings new life to the typical detective murder story. He takes the
time to develop a complex plot into an attention-capturing tale of
intrigue and friends betrayed, remade and destroyed.

It's not the
oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath –
Aeschylus. This quote begins the tale of a group of friends,
perhaps unique in the way all Americans can be. Nicky “The Rat”
Fusco, Frankie “Bugs” Donovan, Tony “The Brain” Sannullo,
Tommy “Mick” McDermott form the core of this group and Chinski,
Suit and Paulie finish out the gang. It seems that there is a destiny
for them to be “friends forever” until years later.

“...Friendship means we look out for each other. Nobody ever
rats or betrays anyone else...”

“...Honor means nobody fucks with one of us and not the others. We
stick up for each other. And it means we don't run, unless we all
run...”

These fateful
words and the consequences of making and trying to keep childhood
promises provide all the tension for the plot. 20 years after these
oaths are made, Frankie is a detective for the Brooklyn Police
department. Tony is in heavy with the organized crime family in the
same area. Nicky is the ex-con that precipitates the action. Frankie
gets called into investigate a series of murders of some apparently
unrelated men in the Brooklyn area. He begins to suspect soon that
there is much more going on here then just someone being murdered.

Giammatteo
writes each chapter from either a third person perspective or from
Nicky's personal accounting of his life with these friends. Due to
the neighborhood they grow up in they live under the scrutiny of the
local organized crime family, headed up by Mikey “The Face”
Fagullo. Tony's mother, Mama Rosa, and Sister Mary Thomas form the
character building parts for the boys as they grow up. These two
major influences keep the group active and bouncing around through
their teenage years. Girls become something they have to consider but
deal with as only kids and teens from this era and society can:
clumsily, jerkily and very self-consciously.

As is the case
with many such friends, they grow up and choose different paths. They
see each other, but individual purposes and ambitions pull them away
from each other. Girls, family problems and the lure of money
impact the group, splitting them until a crisis arises. The gang
maintains the oath for most of this time, until one fateful day when
a rival gang comes looking for trouble. There are teen passions, pool
cues and guns involved. Ultimately gun fire erupts and lives are
changed forever.

In this tale,
there is a lot of right, wrong and terribly, frighteningly gray. When
the time comes and it is needed for oaths to be remembered, they are
forgotten and life is never the same. The murders draw them
inexorably together yet again. The common thread shows how badly a
betrayal of friends can mess up the men that were always supposed to
be oath-bound brothers.

The characters
are smoothly real. Giammatteo takes the time to develop them
naturally. Each takes their fated place and struggles with the people
they become. Of course with this much time to cover there are details
that grow in importance with each progressive revelation. The tragedy
of the way these lives move brought tears to the eyes of this
reviewer. The final betrayal is brokenheartedly realistic.

Although the
switching of character and traveling back and forth in time might
confuse the reader at first, the progression is for the right reasons
and falls into place with a gripping conclusion.

The book is
appropriate for adults because of the violence and language. As
stated at the beginning of the book this is the first in a series
“Friendship and Honor.” This reviewer is eagerly waiting
for the next one.

Published by
Inferno Publishing Company, www.giacomogiammateo.com, ($12.98 USD
SRP/Amazon $12.98 USD) Reviewer received book from author.